A number of different types of paper trimmers are conventionally known. One type of paper trimmer typically includes a cutting blade with a free end and fixed end, wherein the free end rotates towards or away from the material to be cut. Conventional trimmers of this sort are relatively simple in design and are reasonably effective at cutting one sheet or a few sheets of material at a time.
Conventional trimmers of this sort, however, include a number of shortcomings. For example, users often desire to cut several sheets of material at a time. With conventional trimmers however, the individual sheets of material have a tendency to shift relative to each other while the cut is being made. As a result, users often have a difficult time creating straight and clearly defined cuts on multiple sheets of material. Alternatively, a number of conventional trimmers include a clamping mechanism for fixing the position of the materials to be cut. Such clamping mechanisms are structurally separate and disconnected from the actual cutting blade, however, and the user is required to first clamp the materials in place, then perform the cutting action and still later unclamp the materials. In addition to being a relatively cumbersome and multistep process, the manual clamping can still result in a relatively imprecise cut due to the shifting of the material during the cutting operation.
Additionally, many conventional trimmers include a cutting blade on one side of a lever arm which is lowered directly onto the material to be cut. Because the lever arm rotates about the fixed end of the lever arm, however, the portion of the material closest to the fixed end of the lever arm is cut before the material farthest away from the fixed end. This also adds to the likelihood of an imprecise cut as material is capable of shifting while the cut is taking place. Furthermore, the cutting blade on the lever remains completely exposed when in the retracted position, creating a serious safety issue.
For all of these reasons, it would be desirable to develop an improved material cutting device which both automatically constrains the material to be cut in a certain position, while also providing for improved safety as well as straight and more precise cuts relative to conventional material trimmers.